Latest News

WINTER: Nashy's Blog

09-Nov-2012

Sussex's Chris Nash, who has recently been named the new vice-captain of the Club, is currently playing in South Africa as well as having a stint in Hong Kong, representing England in the Sixes tournament. He is playing for the same Club in South Africa as fellow Sharks stars Michael Rippon and Kirk Wernars, and in his latest blog below he keeps sussexcricket.co.uk posted on his own and the team's progress so far.

Having been in Cape Town for just over a month I can safely say summer has arrived. After a few weeks of mixed weather, we can now train and play in the warm weather that Cape Town is renowned for.

I am playing for Western Province Cricket club for the season alongside Kirk Wernars and Michael Rippon. Unfortunately Mike Injured his ankle in a t20 game recently so he won’t be playing for a few weeks at least which is a shame for all of us. Both Kirk and I have been playing every Saturday in a mixture of t20 games and now we are into two-day matches played over two successive Saturdays.

The first few weeks were mainly t20 games and we won them all, however the weekend of the semi-final I had to go to Hong Kong for the Sixes so I missed that game. We lost which was a shame as to play in a final would have been great fun. Our two-day games started poorly with a heavy loss; again I missed the second day of the game due to the Hong Kong Sixes trip.

So far it has been great fun. Kirk and Rips have made me feel really welcome, as has our coach, Richie Burnett who works with the Sussex Academy and age groups in the English summer before heading out to Cape Town for the winters. I have been lucky to come and play for a lovely club with top facilities which makes training really worthwhile.

The Hong Kong Sixes was another good trip. I had a pretty successful tournament, and even came away with some nice England kit! I retired with 32 and 34 in the first two games and did well in the last two but unfortunately we didn't get through the group stages so went home empty handed. It was nice to be play in the sixes for the second time and to be involved in England cricket again.

The months leading up to Christmas mainly revolve around fitness for myself, and having a little break after a long campaign before hitting the new year ready to have another big season. Luckily, when it is warm it is much easier to get outside and train hard. I have to say there has also been a good amount of beach time put in so the tan is coming along nicely!

The next few weeks will see the weather hot up here. Rest assured me and Kirk will be hard at work in the nets, gym and maybe at the beach. December will see the Sussex Academy arrive for their three-week tour and it will be great to see them all working hard during their time here. The funny thing is that it is 13 years ago almost to the day that I first visited Cape Town on my first overseas tour with the Academy. If that doesn't make me feel old the aching muscles from all this training certainly is!